A radio station in Golden Hill?

A community group in Golden Hill wants to launch its own radio station. Paul Broadway, president of the Greater Golden Hill Community Development Corporation, says he's looking into the possibility of getting a license for a low-power FM station that could serve the area.

"This is what my dream is," Broadway tells CityBeat. "I'm putting it out there. I'm asking what can happen."

With a range of about seven miles, a station operating at 100 watts could air programs featuring Golden Hill's many neighborhood artists and musicians, along with community news and emergency broadcasts.

Getting a license is possible, but it could be tricky. In January 2011, President Barack Obama signed the Local Community Radio Act, a landmark bill that eliminated previous licensing restrictions for noncommercial, low-power stations. In recent months, the Federal Communications Commission has been developing rules to implement the law.

FCC regulations require that low-power FM stations be on a third-adjacent channel—that is, three clicks on the dial from another station. But if a licensee can prove its signal doesn't interfere with those of other stations, it can obtain a waiver to use a second-adjacent channel.

According to searches on a zip-code channel-check tool designed by the Prometheus Radio Project, open channels are scarce in San Diego's Mid-City area, and a licensee would likely need a waiver from the FCC.

But Broadway's just getting started. He says he's contacted San Diego's congressional representatives and consulted with Bob Ugly, founder of the defunct pirate radio station Free Radio San Diego. He even knows a good place to put a radio repeater.

"It could be done," he says.

Rocker Stephen Rey is playing in a new band with his roommate, Tim Lowman of Low Volts, and Nathan Beale of Lady Dottie and The Diamonds. They're called Stephen Rey & The Sextrash. They play "bare knuckles" rock, Rey says, and they've got some seriously cool gear—Lowman plays a Civil War marching snare with a '50s-era Chevy hubcap wired to the side. Asked in an email when he first started with the band, Rey says he isn't sure: "Probably as far back as the third grade, when a girl with red hair first broke my concentration." They'll play at El Dorado on Tuesday, Aug. 21.

DJs Lee Reynolds, Mark E Quark and Dazzla will put on a special "black-attire" installment of their Moonshake dancemusic series at Kadan Club on Friday, Aug. 17. Kadan will close down on Wednesday, Aug. 22, and this will be a farewell show for the event and the bar. Read more about the bar closing on our music blog, Check 1, Check 2.